15 September 2002
Transcript: U.S. Seeks U.N. Resolution on Iraq Within a "Matter of Weeks"
(Powell speaks on CBS' Face the Nation September 15) (1440) Secretary of State Colin Powell was interviewed by Bob Schieffer on CBS' Face the Nation September 15. The topic was Iraq. The transcript follows. (begin transcript) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman For Immediate Release September 15, 2002 INTERVIEW Secretary of State Colin L. Powell On CBS's Face The Nation September 15, 2002 Washington, DC MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for coming. Looking at it from afar, it appears to me that this is a good week for the United States in the United Nations. I would like to get some specifics, and so be as specific as you possibly can this morning. We want Saddam Hussein to disarm. Will that be enough? SECRETARY POWELL: It remains to be seen. The various UN resolutions that were passed over the last 11 years talked about disarmament with respect to weapons of mass destruction. But it also talked about not abusing your minorities. It also talked about returning Kuwaiti prisoners and accounting for prisoners, to include an American pilot that was lost in the early days of the Gulf War. So the Security Council will just have to make a judgment as to whether or not he has complied with those resolutions. Right now he has not complied with any of them. What we really want in this first instance is to see whether or not Saddam Hussein understands that the international community is unified on this issue; will make a judgment, I'm quite confident, that he is in breach of all of these resolutions; will set forth action that he has to take; and I hope -- and this is the key part -- that the UN will then say, we're going to take action if he fails to take action. That's what we're looking for. MR. SCHIEFFER: So will this resolution that you will ask the United Nations to pass, will it have a deadline for him to act? SECRETARY POWELL: I hope it will have a deadline. It's a resolution one has to negotiate with the other members of the Security Council. But the US position going in is that such a resolution should have a deadline -- and not a long deadline, but a deadline that requires him to say he will act. MR. SCHIEFFER: In a matter of months? A matter of weeks? SECRETARY POWELL: No. No. No. We're talking a short time, a matter of weeks. I don't want to be more precise than that. There's nothing for him to consider. It doesn't require any great deal of thought. There's no negotiation associated with this. He knows what he has to do. Those resolutions have been out there, so I think what the United Nations Security Council should do in this resolution is to say, here is what is required of you. Let us know within X period of days/weeks that you are prepared to comply. MR. SCHIEFFER: All right, and -- SECRETARY POWELL: Then a new clock starts as to what happens after that. MR. SCHIEFFER: Do you want this resolution to say, if you do not comply we will use military force against you? SECRETARY POWELL: That is not the language the UN would use. They would use other language that says, use necessary means, or member-states should feel free, or the UN will do something. I'm not sure what that language might look like. That will be the difficult element in any such resolution. That's why some nations have suggested, let's have two resolutions: one resolution laying out the charges and requiring action and then, based on what the Iraqis do or do not do, you ask for a second resolution from the UN. We believe that it might be wise to get it all in the first resolution; but because this is a discussion with our friends, we're not ruling out any option at this point. We want to hear from others. MS. BORGER: And how quickly do you want the UN to act on the resolution? SECRETARY POWELL: I want it to act rather quickly. The President gave his speech last Thursday. In his speech he essentially changed the entire political dynamic, the political environment. At the beginning of the week everybody was saying the United States is unilateral, they won't bring this to the Council. And then suddenly, there's the President and he said, "Here it is before the Council. You should feel more offended than the United States does over this series of violations and this intransigence over the last 11 years." And so we spent Friday talking to foreign ministers and heads of state. They have now the weekend and the first couple of days of next week for them to do their deliberations, just as the Bush Administration is known to have discussions within -- MR. SCHIEFFER: So you think they'll start next week, or your want them to start this week? SECRETARY POWELL: Yes. Ambassador Negroponte, our Permanent Representative to the United Nations, is ready to engage with the other members of the Security Council, beginning with the permanent members of the Security Council later this coming week. And we'll see how rapidly they'll come to a close. MS. BORGER: Well, let's talk about the permanent members. Russia: will they be on board? SECRETARY POWELL: Russia has clearly indicated that they have the same concerns we do. They also believe Iraq is in violation. They want to avoid a conflict. We will see how much they will want to avoid a conflict by putting a strong, tough demand on the Iraqis and then doing everything they can, with their pull and their political and diplomatic influence with the Iraqis, to get them to change their behavior of the last 12 years. But I am not, today, going to speak for any other countries' actions. They'll have to decide how much they are able to contribute to this resolution and how far they'll be able to go. MS. BORGER: The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, has said that they're only going to let weapons inspectors come back in under an agreement that says that the United States is not going to attack and that the sanctions would be lifted. How do you respond to that? SECRETARY POWELL: I don't respond to Tariq Aziz anymore because just last week he said no inspectors under any set of circumstances. He talks out of both sides of his mouth four times a day, and there is no point in following his day-to-day utterances. The question is, is Iraq going to make a choice -- a strategic decision on their part that they are going to cooperate with the UN in the sense that they have to accept whatever the UN tells them is required, whether it's, let us know what you have in the form of a declaration, as they should have done back in 1991, or whether it's inspectors. These are almost secondary issues to the basic issue of, is Iraq going to behave differently and act differently in a way that we have confidence that the will of the international community will be respected and obeyed. MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, if you were asking the United Nations to pass a resolution to go after Usama bin Laden, I think there would be unanimous support to do that. I think there would be unanimous support in the United States. But I think a lot of people still want to know what is the link between Usama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein? Some people would say, Brent Scowcroft among them, that in fact Usama bin Laden may have Saddam Hussein on his hit-list because he is after all -- he's not a religious leader and so on. What's the connection? SECRETARY POWELL: We have been examining all connections that may exist. There are some indications that there were contacts between the Iraqi regime and some al-Qaida members. There is no smoking gun that would link the regime in Baghdad to 9/11, but we can't dismiss it as a possibility entirely, so we're constantly looking for it. The real offense and the reason we have taken this case to the UN is not the terrorism angle as much, although that is also part of the resolutions, as it is the weapons of mass destruction and the other elements of the resolutions with respect to how he treats his minorities, how he deals with human rights issues, the return of prisoners, the return and accounting for prisoners that were lost and taken during the Gulf War. MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us now and bringing us this perspective. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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